Author Chris Crutcher Visits NOLA

Kathy Anderson/Times-PicayuneAuthor Chris Crutcher (CENTER) discusses his work with seventh grade students from St. Martin's Episcopal School on Monday, Jan. 7, 2008.

By Maria MontoyaStaff writer

St. Martin's Episcopal School seventh-grader Jessie Troxler has read books by her fair share of authors. Never, though, had she actually exchanged e-mails with one.

That changed when her English teacher, Leslie Bahn, assigned the class the task of writing Chris Crutcher, author of the class's assigned summer reading, "Whale Talk." Jessie and 50 of her classmates sent a flurry of questions to the well-known writer, not knowing they'd ever receive a response.

"Two minutes! Two minutes, that's all it took for him to write me back," Jessie said of the late-night e-mail she sent that asked Crutcher why he had chosen to end his novel the way he did.

"I've actually met some other authors and read some really good books, (but) his stuff is just different. He gets it -- what it's like to be a teenager -- and his books, whether you come from a normal life or a really horrible life, explain the stuff you go through when you're a kid."

Crutcher considers the words of students like Jessie the highest praise. Which is why, he said, he took the time to respond to every e-mail he received from Bahn's class.

Kathy Anderson/Times-PicayuneCrutcher's latest release is Deadline, a book about a terminally ill teen trying to survive his senior year.

"The funny thing is, when you write for a living, you spend a good deal of your time alone, and trying to avoid writing," Crutcher said. "So, each time an e-mail pops up or the phone rings, it's one more thing that can distract you from what you should be doing. The thing is, with the students' e-mails, I never even realized they were all coming from the same place because not one was the same."

Soon after hearing from her students about some of the responses that Crutcher sent, Bahn wrote her own e-mail thanking him for his time and asking if he had ever been to New Orleans or had plans to visit the area.

She quickly obliged, and last Monday, Crutcher spent the day discussing his works and creative process with the St. Martin's students, as well as with the staff and faculty of Ben Franklin High School and, one day later -- after a quick rescheduling to avoid conflict with Monday night's BCS Championship game -- with community members at East Bank Regional Library in Metairie.

Over the course of his two-day trip, the award-winning writer, who has penned more than 12 books for young adults, shared some his life tales. He also addressed the controversy over some of the language used in his books, which bring the issues of weight problems, disability, family violence, sexual abuse and abandonment to life through the stories of vivid, colorful and emotionally raw characters.

He told the St. Martin's students that he draws his characters from his experience as a social worker. It would be unfair, Crutcher told the students assembled on campus in Solomon Theater, to take such details away from his readers, no matter what their age or reading level, because anything less would be dishonest.

"Often times, the characters in my books have lived through some real harsh times," Crutcher said. "In 'Whale Talk,' and many of the others, a kid lived that life and survived. For me to take out of their story the language with which they were surrounded and grew up knowing wouldn't be giving readers the whole story. I tell the story the way it is and the truth is, let me tell you, more people will read my books when I go on a banned book list than when I am not."

Crutcher resides in Spokane, Wash. Much of the inspiration for his work, however, came from his stint as a director of an alternative learning school in Oakland, Calif., where he moved after graduating from Eastern Washington State College.

But it was an earlier period of his life -- growing up in Cascade, Idaho, where he spent much of his youth participating in various sports -- that dominated Crutcher's talk.

"A lot of readers ask me why I tend to use athletics as a backdrop for my books, and the reason is simple: Sports never change," said Crutcher, 61. "Now, I graduated from high school in 1964, (but) the year doesn't matter because the game is still the same, even though some of the equipment might have changed."

Kathy Anderson/Times-PicayuneCrutcher came to St. Martin's Episcopal School after receiving 50 e-mails from the seventh grade English class.

In "Whale Talk," Crutcher tells the story of a group of unlikely swimmers, including one with a single leg. Bahn said as her students read and analyzed the book, one student questioned the likelihood of a student being able to swim with one leg.

"That's when I had to remind them," Bahn said, "that only a year ago, we had a very successful student and graduate of St. Martin's who swam with one leg, Ford Sutter."

On Monday, Sutter sat among the students, listened to the author and shared his own experiences. While planning Crutcher's trip to New Orleans, Bahn had shared with the author how Sutter, like Crutcher's character, had overcome challenges and pursued a very passionate interest in sports. Touched by Sutter's story, Crutcher insisted that he and Sutter should be in town at the same time.

"When I was in school I didn't get the chance to read his work," Sutter said. "But being here today, you can tell what a powerful storyteller he is. The topics and the characters he speaks of have the ability to get young people thinking beyond their world."

Shortly after he spoke to the seventh-grade class, a small group of students gathered in the school library to ask the author if he would ever consider writing about their world.

"Do you think you could write a book about New Orleans?" Jay Tufts asked Crutcher.

Crutcher, who estimates he'll travel 130,000 to 150,000 miles this year visiting schools, speaking at conferences and offering workshops to teachers, told Jay and his classmates he'd love to work on a book about New Orleans. But he wouldn't attempt it, he said, without first moving to the area for a few months or more.

"Otherwise, if I just wrote a book without knowing, you all would find mistakes in my work," he said. "I am a firm believer that you need to know your characters and places, so that readers don't doubt the truth of your story."

Dustin Kinard, 13, said he doesn't doubt that Crutcher grasps the realities of being a teen.

"He writes on our level and not like an adult writing about being a kid, but like we would write it," Dustin said. "It is hard to believe he isn't our age. He is funny and kind of cool."

Getting middle-schoolers to stay on task is always a challenge -- and even more of a challenge on a day when the state's flagship university is playing for the national football championship -- but Crutcher managed to hold the young readers' attention.

"It's not every day that students get to meet an author they read," said Anne Honeywell, director of communications for the school. "And not all authors are such amazing speakers as Mr. Crutcher. You could tell by the utter silence in the theater that they were moved by his words. For the students he reached out to via e-mail, this is a connection they'll have the rest of their lives."

Staff writer Maria Montoya can be reached at mmontoya@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3446.